Monday, May 3, 2010

San Bernardino County pot law in limbo

Medical marijuana advocates say they are frustrated with what they seeas San Bernardino County's refusal to pass a law defining how cannabisproviders should operate.

"They're making up their own rules as they go," said Abel Chapa, aself-described volunteer for San Bernardino Patients Association, aChino-area collective that sheriff's deputies raided in late March.

In the eyes of Chapa and Inland Empire cannabis advocate Lanny Swerdlow,county law enforcement is willfully ignoring California's medicalmarijuana laws and is presently using all means at its disposal to keepprevent patients from obtaining medical marijuana.

That's not correct, Assistant District Attorney Dennis Christy said.Christy said the prosecutor's office is working with other countydepartments to craft a law governing medical marijuana outlets. He saidthe office is simultaneously intent on bringing cases against thosesuspected of breaking the law.

"No one wants to keep marijuana out of the hands of those people who aresuffering from cancer or other maladies where the law says that's aremedy," Christy said.

Medical marijuana advocates say the otherwise illegal marijuana, orcannabis, can help patients suffering from cancer, chronic pain,glaucoma and other ailments deal with their afflictions.

Skeptics are just as likely to say that medical marijuana laws are justa legal loophole that allows stoners to get high on the basis of suchacute medical problems as headaches or stress.

Chapa, 58, said he uses cannabis to alleviate osteoarthritis and kneepain. He and six others have been charged with multiple felonies forallegedly using the collective as a front for illegal marijuana sales.The prosecutor in charge of that case, James Hoffman, said he could notcomment on the case's specifics, except to say that it was beingoperated illegally.

Chapa said he does not expect to be convicted of any wrongdoing. He andfour other defendants are scheduled to appear May 13 for a preliminaryhearing in San Bernardino Superior Court. Chapa said collectivesupporters will rally outside the courthouse on that day.

The San Bernardino Patients Association case is shaping up as but oneexample of the marijuana-related court proceedings that have taken placein the 13 years since California voters legalized medical marijuana useby passing Prop. 215.

The years since November 1996 has not been enough time for municipalofficials, law enforcement or cannabis users to agree on how to balancemedical needs with cops' desire to clamp down on drug dealers or thefact that some people just don't want to be around marijuana.

San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert said that for every personwho wants medical marijuana dispensaries, there are 100 others who don'twant dispensaries near their homes, schools or churches.

One of the stickier issues related to Prop. 215 is that although itallows some people with medical problems to use marijuana, it does notspecifically lay out where marijuana can be obtained.

Prop. 215 does not, Wert said, create a right for medical marijuana toset up the kinds of storefront outlets that are commonly referred to asdispensaries.

Several cities, including San Bernardino and Redlands, have laws banningdispensaries. County government has a moratorium forbidding newdispensaries from opening up within its unincorporated territories.

That moratorium expires June 19, and the Board of Supervisors can thenextend it or adopt an ordinance laying out the rules for regulatingdispensaries.

There's a good chance, Wert said, that supervisors will decide toprolong the moratorium. Besides intra-county issues, Wert saidlitigation between Anaheim and a dispensary there could redefine whatlocal governments can do when it comes to dispensaries.

Americans for Safe Access, a pro-medical marijuana group, reports thecase could decide whether local governments actually have the power toban dispensaries. The case is in the state's 4th Appellate District andan opinion is expected by July 19.

Swerdlow, director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, said hethinks county officials have no intention of ever passing an ordinanceto regulate dispensaries and are intent upon arresting medical marijuanausers and providers.

"You have absolutely no concept or knowledge of what you have to do tobe legal," Swerdlow said.

Swerdlow has spoken against local marijuana policies for a long time,and San Bernardino County has a record of resisting medical marijuana.Along with San Diego County, authorities here went to court to challengeS.B. 420, the state law requiring counties to issue ID cards to helpmedical marijuana patients avoid arrest.

San Bernardino County supervisors did not approve an ID program untilJuly 2009, weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear thecounty's arguments.

Contrary to Swerdlow's fears, Christy said an ordinance actually is inthe works. Putting one together is difficult, however, because countyofficials want to establish an inspection program to make sure marijuanacollectives are actual nonprofits and do not acquire or deliver cannabisoutside of the "closed-circuit" of their membership.

"When you have businesses that are essentially marijuana distributionenterprises, you cannot close your eyes to that," Christy said.

But how long marijuana will remain illegal in California is unknown.Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, is backing a bill to legalizemarijuana and the issue could go up for a public vote in November.

An initiative called the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act isscheduled to go on the Nov. 2 ballot. If passed, the law would allowCalifornians 21 and older to possess and grow limited amounts ofmarijuana.